Internal Earnings Targets Represent an Important Tool in Motivating Managers

question 45

Essay

Internal earnings targets represent an important tool in motivating managers to increase sales efforts,control costs,and use resources more efficiently.Such internal targets also can cause managers to resort to extreme measures in order to meet goals established by upper management.Earnings management often appears in a variety of forms as a means of reaching these internal goals.
Earnings management also is associated with earnings-based internal bonus plans which are also a form of internal target.
Explain how earnings management is related to earnings-based internal bonus plans and how managers behave in response to such plans.

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Definitions:

Depreciation Expense

The allocation of the cost of a tangible asset over its useful life.

Bankruptcy

A legal process for individuals or businesses unable to meet their outstanding debts, allowing them to negotiate for partial or complete relief.

Financial Distress

A situation where a company struggles to meet or has difficulty in paying off its financial obligations to its creditors.

M&M I

The Modigliani-Miller Theorem I, which suggests that in the absence of taxes, bankruptcy costs, and asymmetric information, and in an efficient market, the value of a firm is unaffected by its capital structure.